ABC's The View tabbed Jenny McCarthy to replace Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Yes, Jenny McCarthy whose claim to notoriety has been the debunked notion that vaccines are causally linked to autism. In fact, the most damning paper by Wakefield et al, published in 1998, was retracted by The Lancet in 2010. Undeterred, Ms. McCarthy has soldiered on, backed by such scientific luminaries as Oprah Winfrey.
The problem is not one of facts or science. Medicine has that in spades. The problem is audience. Jenny McCarthy, last seen on ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve, and her junk science now has exposure to a large segment of the American people on The View. When was the last time anyone saw the AMA President on TV? And can anyone name the AMA President? (Dr. Ardis Hoven)
Ms. McCarthy's exposure goes way past television. Jenny McCarthy has over 900K followers on Twitter. To put things in perspective, the owner of the most followed medical blog on the net, KevinMD.Com, Dr. Kevin Pho has 50K followers. See the problem?
There is one solution. There is one physician with a larger presence than Jenny McCarthy. That physician is none other than cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz, MD. With over 2M Twitter followers and a large national audience on The Doctor Oz Show, @DrOz has the juice, the voice and the following to get the word out there. Make no mistake - this is a war. Our children's lives are at stake. Old childhood diseases are coming back. Dr. Oz, the time is now. How about it?
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